


Smile for Me

by Noir_Kabuki



Series: Azulee One-Shots (yup, this is what fills my waking hours) [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst, Dark, F/F, Hurt No Comfort, I’m sorry, this hurt me
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-19 02:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29868045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Noir_Kabuki/pseuds/Noir_Kabuki
Summary: Ty Lee was good at smiling. Part of it was just her nature, but part of it was skill. A talent she’d fine-tuned over the years— the ability to turn the corners of her mouth upward and keep them there no matter how dire the situation.It was a skill that served her well in prison.
Relationships: Azula/Ty Lee (Avatar)
Series: Azulee One-Shots (yup, this is what fills my waking hours) [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2162163
Comments: 4
Kudos: 27





	Smile for Me

Ty Lee was good at smiling. Her huge grin was her trademark; she was hardly ever seen without it. Part of it was just her nature, but part of it was skill. A talent she’d fine-tuned over the years— the ability to turn the corners of her mouth upward and keep them there no matter how dire the situation.

It was a skill that served her well in prison.

Mostly she smiled for Mai. The poor girl had sacrificed everything for a boy who might not even love her anymore. Ty Lee knew how badly she needed a friend. So she gave her the brightest smiles she could, in the hopes that it would be a light for her in that dark time. 

She also smiled for her new friends, the Kyoshi Warriors. Those girls took an instant liking to Ty Lee. They looked past the silly, simple acrobat most people saw in her and recognized the fighter beneath— the girl who had stood up to the Fire Princess, suffered the consequences, and still kept her chin up. Ty Lee didn’t want to dispel that image, so she met them with smiles.

Her smile was both her weapon and her shield, and the only time she let it down was at night. Alone in the darkness of her cell, it was finally okay to let the walls down, to acknowledge how much she was hurting, to let herself cry. 

Alone in the darkness, it was okay to think about Azula.

During the day, she firmly shut out every thought of the princess, staunchly ignored any mention of her. But alone in the dark, there was little to keep her from creeping into Ty Lee’s mind like so many ghosts. That moment on the roof of the Boiling Rock played over and over again in her head, always freezing on Azula’s face. She had never seen such undisguised hate and anger in her, certainly never directed at her, and it burned into her very soul.

It was painful how much that expression contrasted the other snapshot of Azula she held in her mind: the tender, hesitant smile she had given her when their lips had finally parted and they’d both remembered how to breathe. It was painful to think about how the world had seemed so full of light and hope back then, and now it was so dark. But one thing remained the same: her talent for bringing others joy, even if she felt none herself.

So for now, Ty Lee smiled.

**Author's Note:**

> I feel the need to apologize for this. So yeah... sorry. Please don’t hurt me.


End file.
